Dreaming Of Snow In Malibu
by ShellyStark
Summary: Pepper doesn't get to take her yearly trip home for Christmas due to some nasty weather. Christmas with Tony turns out to be better than she thought it would.


**Dreaming of Snow in Malibu**

Christmas for Pepper has always been the same; sipping cocoa by the fire, cozy flannel Christmas themed jammies, carols filling her parent's warm Providence home and snow, lots of snow. Not this year, this year things would be different, and Pepper was not a happy camper.

"You can't be serious! Please mom, tell me you're joking." Pepper groaned into the telephone.

"Sorry honey, everything is grounded; there is no way in hell you'll make it here in time for Christmas. Not unless that boss of your's flies you out himself," her mother said half jokingly.

"No mom, I'm not going to do that," Pepper sighed.

"Well why not," her mother scoffed. "Lord knows he can Virginia."

"Yea, well, I'm not letting someone else miss their Christmas so I can be selfish." Pepper rubbed her scalp, tugging gently on her sun kissed ginger hair. "I'll call you in the morning, sorry I won't be there, tell everyone I said hello."

"We'll miss you Virginia, take care of yourself," her mother said with a hint of sadness in her voice.

"Bye mom." Pepper placed the phone back in the cradle and buried her head in her arms. She heard a crash come from downstairs and blew the hair out of her face.

"I could always spend Christmas with Tony," she said to herself. "Providing he even knows that its tomorrow."

Pepper solemnly made her way down the stairs, prepared to leave and spend her night alone watching Christmas classics watching the window for the snow that would never come. She stopped at the bottom of the stairs and cocked her head at the sight of Tony sitting in the middle of a large pile of train tracks and a large, very large undecorated tree sat in the corner of the living room. A tree that hadn't been there earlier.

"Tony? What are you-?"

"Pepper!" Tony looked up, grinning like a five year old. "What are you still doing here? Shouldn't you be halfway to Rhode Island by now?"

"When did you get a tree?" Pepper asked, awestruck at the massive tree that stood at least seven foot tall.

"Had it delivered," he answered plainly. "Now why aren't you on your way to your parents?" Tony had his hands busy assembling tracks and piecing together train cars as Pepper stood speechless, her mouth hanging open slightly.

"What?" Tony laughed and flashed her that billion dollar smile. "Did you honestly think I forgot about Christmas?"

Pepper slowly nodded, taking a few steps toward him.

"No matter how hectic things were in the Stark house my mom always made sure we took the time to put up a tree," Tony said, smiling down at the boxes in front of him.

"No matter where you are on Christmas Anthony, you make sure you put up a tree and when you look at it know I'm looking at one with you. She told me that when I left for MIT, Rhodey had a fit when I lugged that big ass tree into the dorm room," Tony grinned. "Tree's and train's Potts, that's my Christmas tradition and I know yours involves going to your parents and playing in all that white wet fluffy snow."

"But how did you-"

"Contrary to what you may think, I do listen Pepper, to you anyway. You light up inside each time you talk about it. So why aren't you on that plane?" Tony asked arching an eyebrow.

"Snow storm," Pepper said hanging her head. "No planes in or out."

"I could get you there you know," Tony said, tightening the engine's wheels.

"No," Pepper sighed. "I'm just going to go home. One year away from them isn't going to kill me."

"You're not going anywhere Potts." Tony lifted his head and motioned for her to come closer. "You shouldn't be alone on Christmas."

Pepper went to stand in front of him, looking down at the mess he was creating.

"Sit," Tony said, patting the carpet next to him.

Pepper toed off her heels and sat down, tucking her legs behind her.

"Look at this," he chuckled handing her a train car. The windows on the car were cut larger than they normally would be, and each one had a picture peeking out. She easily recognized the mop headed little Tonys making goofy faces in a few of the windows, a pretty dark haired woman and an older man she assumed to be his parents.

"So when I was six, mom told my father to give me a project to keep me from dismantling everything in the house," Tony said softly.

Pepper looked up to see his big chocolate brown eyes smiling down at her.

"So we started to build this train. Lots of spare parts, paint and many photo albums later," Tony laughed nodding to the pile of train cars, each of them like the one she held, with countless little pictures behind the windows. "It was finished and seeing as it was the day before Christmas we put it around the tree and that's where it's been every year since."

"I never knew," Pepper whispered, tracing the small frames with her fingertips.

"Of course you didn't Pep, you're never here for that. You can call me selfish, but I'm glad you are. We've known each other over ten years and this will be our first Christmas together." The corner of Tony's mouth turned up, forming that quirky lopsided grin that she secretly loved.

_Maybe things wouldn't be so bad after all_, she thought to herself; digging into a box and beginning to help him assemble the tracks.

Pepper's mood had brightened up; who knew she would actually enjoy spending the night before Christmas with Tony Stark as much as she was. They ordered Chinese and watched Rudolph, shared stories from each other's childhood memories. It was getting late and they decided it was time to finish decorating the tree. He brought out more boxes, filled with a large assortment of ornaments, varying from your typical red and green balls, Santa and Snowmen figures, garland and plenty of well loved homemade ones from Tony's childhood. Their laughs filled the air as Pepper attempted to string strands of popcorn.

"We'll never finish if you keep eating it Tony!" Pepper giggled, taking the bowl away from him, but not before he grabbed a hand full for himself.

"Spoil sport," Tony pouted, flicking a few pieces at her, only to see them get lost in her hair.

"Anthony Stark!" she exclaimed, laying a hand over her chest. "Did you just throw popcorn at me?"

"I believe I did _Virginia_," he smirked. "Whatcha' gonna do about it?" he said quietly, almost as if it were a growl. Tony tossed another piece, grinning as it tumbled down into the v-cut in her shirt.

"Need help with that Potts?" he suggested, waggling his eyebrows.

Pepper walked over to him, clicking her tongue.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk, Stark." She stopped in front of him and leaned in so she was only inches from his face. "You shouldn't be naughty on Christmas," she whispered sweetly, watching as his eyes grew darker and his breathing increased.

"Why not?" he huskily asked, bringing his face in closer.

A wide grin appeared on Pepper's face as she brought her hands up and proceeded to dump the popcorn bowl over his head. Tony's eyes closed and his mouth hung open as Pepper chewed her bottom lip and watched contently as the kernels and fluffy white pieces gathered around his feet. She went up on her tip toes and quickly placed a kiss on his cheek.

"Good night Tony," Pepper whispered into his ear before making her way up the stairs.

"What about cookies for Santa? And this mess? Look at the mess you made Potts!" he called after her with laughter in his voice.

"Oh please, that is nothing compared to one of your messes. As for Santa's cookies…he can eat the popcorn," she laughed, closing the guest room behind her.

Pepper awoke to the sounds of soft piano music floating up the stairs, Christmas music to be exact, closing her eyes and letting out a content sigh she almost felt as if she were waking up at her parent's house, the mansion was even chillier than normal, and she swore she could almost smell that familiar snow smell. Pepper looked to the windows, noticing they were in fact open, but the shades drawn, small dark shadows dancing down white curtains. Impossible, it hardly ever snowed in Malibu, especially on Christmas.

"Jarvis?" Pepper said quietly.

"Good Morning Ms. Potts," the A.I. answered.

"Can I have the weather for today?" She asked.

"High of 45 degrees Fahrenheit, partly cloudy, with a ten percent chance of rain Ms. Potts. Will that be all?"

"Yes thank you," Pepper grinned, pulling back the covers and shoving the curtains apart. Snowflakes or what at least looked like snowflakes, were drifting down, and sparkling in the morning sunlight. Quickly she put her pajamas bottoms on and hurried down the stairs.

Tony sat at the piano, dressed in green flannel bottoms and a red t-shirt, eyes closed and a sweet smile on his face as he eased into yet another Christmas carol. Pepper sat down on the bench beside him.

"I didn't know you were into moose Pep," Tony said glancing down at her own flannel pants, not missing a note.

"I never knew you could actually play this thing," she replied. "Are you aware that it is snowing Tony?"

"Mmmhmm,"

"It's in the forties, not exactly snow weather," Pepper said with an arched eyebrow.

Tony continued playing, reaching an arm around her slender figure to hit the last note before turning to face her.

"That's the beauty of an air compressor and an atomizing nozzle," Tony grinned.

"You made a snow machine?" Pepper asked her blue eyes wide and sparkling.

"You always see snow on Christmas Pep, I couldn't let you go with out it," he said softly, turning back to the keys and beginning to play White Christmas singing along as he played.

"I'm dreaming of a white Christmas, just like the one's I used to know. Where the treetops glisten, and children listen, to hear, sleigh bells in the snow"

Pepper was taken aback by his warm, sultry, heart felt voice. In the many years she had known Tony Stark he had very rarely let his guard down, but in this moment, he was full of mesmerizing emotion, sweeping her away with him. She knew this was something he wouldn't share with anyone else, only her.

No, he wasn't sharing it with her, he was giving it to her, he was giving his Christmas to her.

Completely and entirely to her.

"I'm dreaming of a white Christmas, with every Christmas card I write. May you day's be merry, and bright. And my all your Christmases be white." Tony finished and looked at Pepper, tears glistening behind her bright blue eyes.

"Sorry you weren't able to make it home Pepper, I know how important it was to you," Tony said quietly, brushing a tear away with his thumb and tucking a stray strand of her copper locks behind her ear. Pepper traced the arc reactor through his shirt before running her hands up his toned chest and locking her hands behind his neck, slowly leaning in and placing her lips on his.

"I am home Tony," Pepper said against his mouth.

Tony wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her close, tenderly kissing away her tears before moving back down to her mouth, gently guiding his tongue in over hers as she tangled a hand into his dark curls.

"Merry Christmas Pepper," Tony said quietly when their kiss broke.

"Merry Christmas Tony," she replied. "Did you get everything you asked for?" Pepper asked snuggling into his shoulder.

"I only asked for one thing," he said, kissing the top of her hair.

"And?" Pepper nudged his side gently.

"You're all I ever wanted Pep. Guess Santa thought I wasn't so naughty after all."

**A/N Bet you all thought I'd given up on Tony and Pepper! How I have missed writing the pair of them, a nice Holiday Challenge was all I needed to get my ass in gear! I'm quite happy with it, hope you all are too. I love to hear your thoughts, as naughty or nice as they may be :P Happy Holidays everyone!**

**-Shelly  
**


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